iPhone plus camera plus pothole: Boston brings citizen complaints to the modern age

This is one application I’ve been waiting for and it will be available in Boston very soon. An iPhone application called Citizen Connect will let iPhone owners take photos of potholes, graffiti, broken street lights, crumbling sidewalks, anything that’s a nuisance, and send them to City Hall so the municipality can fix them.

I hope other cities launch a similar application. In San Francisco, there are enough potholes and broken sidewalks to fix, and filthy streets to clean. Now the question is how quickly cities will be able to fix these things. With budget cuts in California (the state is issuing IOUs and has had its debt rating cut to BBB), applications like this will only fuel more anger and cynicism. But I think it’s about time!